An Adventures Tale

For as long as he can remember he had been fascinated by the animals that surrounded him. He would always wander into the forest to explore the unknown and venture far into the mountains to discover the dark deeps and with each journey he watched them, wrote down their eating habits and how they would court one another, how they would become friends with each other and discovered their natural enemies.

However everywhere he went, every tavern, every lodge he never found a single person that shared his interest. Everyone simply warned him that what he was doing was dangerous and he will most likely get killed if he was spotted, but he didn’t care. He was well aware that the animals he was researching were dangerous; his mother had been killed by them when he was just a baby but whenever his father told him the story he couldn’t help but feel as if it was just an accident, although he could never convince his father of this. He just couldn’t help but feel that maybe there was more to these creatures than simple minded violence; he had noted packs protecting one another and make choice that require complex thought, he knew they were an intelligent type.

Then on a day much like any other he stumbled upon a new cave system, and with the type of person he was, he couldn’t help but explore. He gathered his backpack and loaded it with the usual survival gear as well as food and water, of course he didn’t forget his cutlass and flintlock pistol, those were things every traveler knew to carry at all times.

He headed in the cave, his heart racing with excitement and his mind buzzing with wonders of what he could find inside. Once he far enough into the entrance he lit his torch for new light and readied his pistol just in case, although he hoped he would not be in danger but the animals around here are nothing to play around with.

As he went deeper he could not help but reminisce, being in caves is very different, and it was home to his best memory. The times of being in the military started to come back, the days when his squad would enter the mountains to kill the beasts that harassed the nearby villages. They were nothing like he had imagined, these particular snake like creatures thrived in the mountains and their skin was just as hard as stone, even looked like it until you were close enough to touch it however at that point you were probably dead.

A unit of thirty men, himself included, was sent into the cave to slay the monsters, but they failed with only seven of them returning alive. Their swords were not strong enough to pierce the stone like skin nor were the munitions able to dent its hide. The only thing they had that could even scratch the beast was explosives, they used all they had and only managed to slay two of the many hordes that lay deep within the caverns but the explosions would only draw more attention that they could not handle.

They had no choice to evacuate the settlement and move to a new location, the townspeople wanted to fight back but they were even more unprepared than the military. Their wooden walls and barricades were no match against the beast and its kin. With many more casualties they all ran out of the destroyed village to the somewhat safety of the lake, it was the only place these rock like creatures would not go near.

After days of holding out, reinforcements finally arrived, an entire armada of over three hundred men armed to the teeth with weapons, armor, rations, and large battle machines. With one mass attack they managed to kill half the beasts and drive the rest away. The village could be rebuilt and it was a win for the kingdom, however the cost was still great, over one hundred men were lost is this battle along with half the machines, the creatures showed no mercy and their power was far underestimated. They would shoot beams from their mouths and could command stone like it was alive; some even laid traps made completely out of rocks.

It was in this war the he almost lost his life and found his calling. Amongst the fighting he fell into a hole and tumbled down into a damp cavern, it was a nest. Hundreds of onyx colored eggs lay bundled together surrounded by rocks under dripping stalactites; the water drenching them. He approached the nest and tasted the water, it was rich mineral water, he thought to himself, it must have been how these creatures get such strong hides and they absorb it all as eggs. He grabbed his hammer ad prepared to smash the nest, knowing that as long as one exists they will return. However as he was about to strike, he found that he was unable to bring his hammer down, he could not find it in his heart to slaughter unborn babies, animals or not, and sheathed his weapon.

He looked around the nest and noticed how some eggs were buried underneath others and were not getting any water on them. He carefully picked up the eggs and moved them around so that each would be given enough water. It was then he saw something approach, a much larger rock snake than the rest but its hide was a strange green color. He fell over and stumbled back, the creature towered him several feet. But his fear quickly left him, he locked eyes with the creature, it looked at him with a way he had never seen before, its eyes were kind and loving.

Several loud booms were heard from up above, the ceiling shook dropping stone from above, some landed on several eggs crushing them. The creature bellowed out in sadness and anger, and turned to the man, opening its mouth, nudging him towards the eggs. The man was confused but felt as if it wanted his help. It kept nudging him towards the eggs, keeping its mouth wide open. He didn’t understand what it wanted. It started to go towards the eggs and scoop them in its mouth, then nudged him again.

“You want me to put the eggs in your mouth?” he asked.

The creature nodded and let out a silent growl.

“Wait you can understand me, you know what I'm saying?” he said in a confused excitement.

Once more the creature nodded and nudged him towards the eggs.

“Ok ok” he said as he grabbed the eggs. He started loading them in the creatures mouth as fast as he could, the booming continued and the sound of shouting could be heard from far up above. It sounded like they were winning against these animals; the snake began to nudge him to hurry.

He finished loading all the eggs and the creature closed its mouth, it nuzzled him as softly as it could and nudged him to a tunnel leading outside.

“Wait,” he said thinking hard, “Is it possible that you weren’t attacking the village, you were defending your nest from them, and this was all a misunderstanding wasn’t it.”

The creature nodded but before he could say anything more, it had tunneled away in a different direction. He followed the tunnel and found himself near the entrance of cave with all the other soldiers shouting and cheering that they have won. He asked one of the soldiers “what happened?”

“They all left, the retreated and left the entire cave, we drove them back!” he shouted cheeringly.

“That’s, that’s not right” he said as the army all marched out happily shouting “we won”.

It was that day he decided to retire, to leave the military and start his adventures of finding the truth, showing the world that these monster are actually intelligent and we can live alongside them.

It was now as he explored the cave did he realize that he had become lost within its dark halls, he had been remembering his past but forgot a very important rule for the present, to mark his way back. He turned around and follow tunnels that he thought he had been through but it was no use, he was just heading deeper into the cave. To his misfortune he started to hear a wining sound, like a small child crying, could someone else have gotten lost as he did?

He walked closer towards the sound, drawing his pistol thinking that it could be a trap. The crying started to get louder, he was getting closer. Finally he found a faint light in the distance next to a small shadowed huddled figured, he thought maybe this is the person who is lost. He could hear the crying coming from the light, he walked closer and quietly asked, “Hello, are you ok?”
The shadowy figured turned towards him and stood about three feet tall “Ch…Ch…” it muddled out.

“It’s ok I'm not going to hurt you I'm here to help,” he slowly put his pistol on the floor and pushed it away.

The figure stepped back and its head faced towards his sword.

“Oh no look,” he drew his sword slowly and pushed it away towards his pistol, “see I'm not here to hurt you, just help.” He said with a friendly voice. “Come with me and we can both find our way out together, just shine your light on your face so I can see you better.”

The little figure took its arms and grabbed its light from behind, “Ch…Ch...” it said silently, fear still bidding in its voice.

“Don’t be afraid I'm here to help, I promise.” He said as he smiled and sat down, “you can trust me.”

He could feel it staring at him trying to decide what to do. Then it nodded its head up and down as it pulled its light closer to its face. “Ch…Ch…Charmander!” it yelled in excitement as it pulled up its naturally flaming tail towards its face.

The man’s heart started to beat extremely fast, he had no idea it was something like this. These things were extremely dangerous; he had never been so close to one before. He felt like grabbing his pistol but then he remembered what he had told everyone else, that these things aren’t naturally violent.

He steadied his heart and took a deep breath, although his body was still trembling, “C’mon little guy, come with me and we can find the way out together.” he said stretching out his arms trying to mask his shaking voice.

“CHARMANDER!” the creature yelled out as it ran into the man’s arms, squeezing him like a small child.

The man was stunned; no one had ever done this before or even considered it possible. He hugged the creature back, careful to avoid its flaming tail, and looked at it, “well I guess your name is Charmander am I right?” he asked.

“Char” the creature said as it smiled.

Well I guess it’s only fair that you know my name, people at my town just call me professor but all my friends call me Oak, if you want you can be my friend” said the man.

The creature smiled and hugged him once more; the man laughed and stood up, “well, I guess we better find a way out of here."